In commercial and industrial buildings, such as, for example, retail stores, factories, warehouses, etc., it is often desirable to provide a video surveillance system to monitor persons and events within the building. One of the key areas where it is desired to direct such video surveillance is at the doorways that permit entrance and exit to certain areas. This allows security personnel to monitor the comings and goings of individuals through the doorways.
In many commercial and industrial settings, there exists one or more doorways within a building provided with an automatic door assembly that automatically opens when a person approaches the doorway to permit entrance/exit therethrough. These automatic door assemblies typically use microwave doppler or active and passive infrared (IR) sensors to detect the motion of a person approaching the door. Also, some automatic door assemblies use pressure sensitive mats or electric eyes to determine the presence of a person in front of the door panel(s) thereof. Irrespective of which kind of sensor is used, when a sensor determines that a person is approaching the doorway, the controller of the door assembly responsively signals a door operator thereof to move the door panel(s) to the open position thereof to permit passage therethrough.
In arrangements wherein a video surveillance device is being used to monitor a doorway in which an automatic door assembly is installed, the surveillance imaging device is mounted at a vantage point that provides a view of the persons travelling through the doorway while, at the same time, sensors on the door assembly are also monitoring the areas adjacent to or within the doorway to detect the presence of motion indicative of persons travelling through the doorway. Thus, the building owner is paying for the costs of two systems that function to some extent to monitor a doorway. Also, the imaging device that monitors the doorway and the door assembly itself are typically installed by different companies, thereby increasing installation costs.
Consequently, there exists a need in the art for an arrangement wherein video imaging capabilities and sensing capabilities that determine the presence or approach of a person to a doorway controlled by an automatic door assembly are combined into one convenient package that can be easily installed to provide effective door assembly operation and video imaging functions.